A CENTENARIAN has celebrated her 100th birthday with a couple of glasses of bubbly.

Mary Fenn celebrated her milestone anniversary and said: “If you’re going to live for a long time, it is important to have a good health but I still enjoy a glass of wine.”

Mrs Fenn was born in Ridgewell, near Halstead, but moved to Harwich in 1934.

She was brought up by her father, who worked on the Colne Valley Railway, so railways have always been an important part of her life.

Mrs Fenn joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service and worked as a cook at HMS Ganges during the Second World War.

She met her husband Stanley, while she was waiting for the ferry from Harwich to Shotley.

Love blossomed and the couple were married in 1949.

Mrs Fenn joked she married him because she thought he would be away most of the time as he was a merchant seaman.

Mr and Mrs Fenn lived in Garland Road, Parkeston, and after the war Mrs Fenn worked as the cook at Bernards clothing factory in Harwich.

Her daughter, Georgie, was born in 1950 and the family moved to Framlingham in Suffolk, where Mr Fenn worked on a farm.

But when her son, Sam, was born in 1956, the family decided to move back to Essex the following year.

Mr Fenn went back to sea on the train ferries between Harwich and Zeebrugge which meant the family qualified for a railway privilege ticket which Mrs Fenn said she made good use of.

She said her children, Sam and Georgie, had memories of lots of train trips all over the country.

The family moved to Wrabness in 1962 and Mrs Fenn lived there until three years ago when she moved into Lime Court care home in Dovercourt.

Sarah Meachen, lifestyle co-ordinator at Lime Court, said: “She is such a kind-hearted, lovely lady and she has a good sense of humour.

“Mary has an exceptional memory of her life and loves to chat and reminisce about her early memories.”

Mrs Fenn has been deaf for most of her later life and was known in Wrabness for walking in the middle of the road, oblivious to the traffic.

Now a great grandmother, she celebrated her birthday with her friends and family.